He, the who died
It's been about three months since Naruto had finished reading all the books in the whole house, even his sibling's personal diary/journals. It has been about two months since he last tried to escape from his family's house. A month and a half since he ran out of food, he fell unconscious because of the lack of food, energy, and body heat. Now, all together, roughly six months had passed since he last saw his family, he had been out cold for about a week and two days in the freezing house, not a soul stopping by the house to see what was happening. No, they were already at the week-long Kyuubi celebration, Naruto heard the fireworks and some of the cheering from his room it was so loud before he passed out. A whole week and two, going on three, days before Kyuubi finally managed to take control of the young boy's body so he could turn into his nine-tailed forms, which destroyed the roof and the side of the house. If it wasn't for the foxes chakra, Naruto wouldn't have-
"wait..." Kyuubi thought as he looked around the destroyed house, "where's my container?" The fox looked around the rubble for the little blond boy before finding him just outside the back of the house, he looked down at the boy's unmoving body. It was partly covered in snow, carefully, Kyuubi picked the boy up and held him in his hands, bringing him close to his face so he could get a better look.
Naruto's body was like touching the ice, his skin was a light gray, his blond hair, losing its shine, almost looked white, and his eyes were closed. Kyuubi was about to panic when he felt it, "it was faint, very weak, barely even there but it was. It was a heartbeat. He still had a chance, the boy still had a chance, but I 'll need to hurry." He acted quickly as he held Naruto in one hand and took off at a speed that could rival the Yellow Flash, he ran far and fast while surrounding Naruto's cold body with warm chakra. He had no idea if this would work or not, but he was going to try it anyway because it was the only thing that he could for now. It took him whole days to get to where he was going, by then Naruto's body had managed to stay alive until then, Kyuubi wasn't a doctor, but he knew a little something, after all, he had lived for a long time.
Naruto woke up about a month later, he looked around to find that he was in a room, with only a large bed and a few shelves in it, other than that, the room was bare. He tried to sit up but felt a lightweight all over him, "what's this?" He asked himself as he felt something furry fall into his hands, "it's so soft and warm...." He began to drift off again.
When Naruto woke up the second time, he wasn't alone, a man was standing by the bed with pouring some tea. He had fiery red hair, smooth skin, and ...fox ears on his head? "They look so soft," Thought the blond four-year-old, he slowly sat up, his two-colored eyes captivated by the man's ears, he reached out a hand to touch the ears when he heard a voice.
"I see you're awake now," said the man in a deep voice, he turned crimson red eyes to look at the blond child.
Naruto froze, he looked at the man for a moment, the man looked back at him, Naruto blinked before his hand started moving closer to the man's ears again. The man gentle caught the hand before it reached his ears, "please don't do that," he said.
Naruto looked at the man, they stared at each other for a minute before Naruto tried to move his hand closer again, his eyes never leaving the ears. The ears twitched as the man was becoming annoyed with the boy, "I said don't," he said with forced calm in his voice.
"But they look so soft and I may never get the chance to touch them again," Naruto said sounding smarter than any four years old should sound, while still keeping his child-like voice full of awe. The man wanted to argue with the child's logic, but after what the boy went through, he gave up and let the boy touch his ears. His hands still cold from the half-dead state he was in, but not as cold as before.
Naruto moved closer to the fox-like man as he rubbed the furry ears between his little fingers, he had never felt anything like it before, they were soft but firm, the reddest red he's ever seen, and they were real. Where they? "Are these real?" Naruto asked as he looked into the red eyes of the man, the eyes soon stole all the attention away from the soft ears.
"Yes they are," said the man, he sighed as he placed the boy back into his bed and tucked him in under the sheets. He then picked up the teacup that he had filled halfway and presented it to the boy, "drink," he said, Naruto obeyed and drunk the tea. The man poured him another cup which he drank, and other until the man nodded, "Good, now rest, I'll bring you some more tea in a few hours.
Naruto was starting to feel sleepy again, he guessed it was because of the tea he drank, he also felt a warmth spread all over his body. He smiled as he went back to sleep.
When Naruto woke up again, it was dark in the room but there was an orange light coming from behind a curtain that reminded him of the sunrise. He guessed that it was still early morning, the warm feeling from before was still there like it never left, he thought it would have but there was a taste of the tea he had before falling back to sleep in his mouth. He had a feeling that the man from before also came back when he was sleeping. He heard the door to the room open and tiredly sat up so see who it was, he rubbed his eyes to get rid of the sleep in his eyes before looking at the slightly open door, there was no to be seen standing there, he looked around the room to see if anyone was there. He didn't see anyone, adult or otherwise, he was about to get out of bed when he felt something hop onto his lap, he looked down to find a small fox sitting there staring up at him.
"Oh, hello, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked with a small smile, the fox tilted it's head to the side as it continued to stare at the boy, he chuckled and pet the fox's head. "Are you lost?" He got no answer, not like expected one in the first place, he chuckled again, "don't worry, I'll wait with you, you must have someone to take care of you right?"
"He doesn't," came a familiar voice from the door, the man from before was standing there with a tray tea.
"It's you... what do you..." Naruto watched the man walk over to his side of the large bed.
"This little kit doesn't have anybody to look after him, his mom died after he was born, his father died in the war and..." the man sat down with a heavy sigh, he set the tray down and placed a hand on the fox's head, "his siblings died from illness not too long after the war started. He's the only one left in his family, an orphan," he cleared his thought and took his hand away, much to the disappointment of the little fox, "he's been staying here with me until I could find someone to take care of him full time."
"Can't you do it?" Naruto asked, "I mean, you've been taking care of him all this time so far, why-"
"Because I haven't been here to fully take the responsibility that comes with taking care of this kit," the man interrupted the boy sharply. He started pouring the tea now, "I'm a very busy guy, now that I'm back home, I try but..." he shook his head, "I just don't have enough time to give." He finished pouring and handed the tea to Naruto to drink, which he did, "he need's someone that'll take care of him, someone who has the time him," the boy nodded, "Naruto that's not me, I have to much to do and I barely have the time to do it."
Naruto finished his tea and handed the cup back to the man, "how'd you know my name?"
"Hm?"
"My name, you said Naruto, how'd you know that's who I was? Do I know you from somewhere?" Naruto asked as the little fox looked between them, he pawed over to Naruto, putting his head under one of the boy's hands, getting the hint Naruto petted the little fox again as he looked at the man in front of him. He didn't know where he'd seen the man before, now that he was fully awake watching how he poured another cup of tea, he couldn't help the feeling of knowing him, "what's your name?"
The man finished pouring the tea and watched Naruto for a minute, "Karuma, that's what I've been a call for as long as I can remember," he handed Naruto the cup.
"Karuma? That's a nice name," Naruto to a sip of his tea as he looked around, "where is this place?"
"Well it's my home, though, I haven't been here in a very long time," said Karuma.
"Really? Why's that?"
Karuma took a while to answer, he had an apprehensive look on his face, "I'm not sure if you'll understand this, but I'm the nine tails."
Naruto looked the man up and down for a moment as he finished his tea when he was down, he handed the cup back to Karuma, who held the cup in his hands as he waited for the boy's answer. "You don't look like a giant fox with nine tails that could destroy a village if he wanted to," Naruto said in a calm voice.
Karuma blinked twice before he slowly poured the last cup of tea, he handed it to the boy when he was done, "um... well I am, or I'm half of him anyways."
"Where's your other half?" Naruto asked thinking he had a twin-like him, "is he away on business or something?"
"No, he's.... inside your sister," Karuma answered still looking at the blond with confusion on his face.
Naruto almost spit out his tea, why? Because his parents, even though they told their children about the Kyuubi attack and it's sealing, they never told Naruto and Narumi that they were the ones who held the two halves of the Kyuubi. It didn't help that when they finally did tell the twins, it was on their second birthday after they ran around all day playing and opening their gifts which made them half asleep when Minato and Kuchina told them. It also didn't help that they told them in a way that would sound like a bedtime story. Narumi, fell asleep halfway through the story, while Naruto, with his grate memory, still remembered.
"You're the Kyuubi from the story!?" Naruto asked, not in fear, but excitement because he loved foxes, don't get him wrong, he didn't think that what happened to the village was something to laugh at. However, he always wanted to meet a giant fox, now he has. "Oh man, this is great-" he just realized something, suddenly all of his memories came back to him. His father's promise to train him but never showing up, his family leaving him forgetting him at home while they went out partying to congratulate his brother's jonin and ANBU ranking, and finally his mother leaving him home to do something, practically running out the door to do it. The last thing he could remember was looking at his family picture, the only one that he could ever find himself in, and hearing the people cheer for the fireworks as they went off in the distance before falling un-contuse. He remembered it all, every second of being alone and hungry, everything, his smile faded away and the now-empty teacup fell from his limp hands.
"I-w-wha-I can-ju-wHY!" Tears built up in his eyes before sliding down his face like a waterfall, "what-what happened to me?" He cried as Karuma hurriedly came closer to him and wrapped him in a warm hug, it was the only thing that came to mind for him to do, "why did they...why would they...just left me!" He managed to say through the sobs, but Karuma understood what he was trying to say as he hushed the boy in his arms, the little fox whimpered as he saw the one petting him crying and he didn't know what to do but lean on him.
The fox looked up to the boy with sad eyes, he didn't like seeing the boy so sad, he was the first person there to give him this much attention. He only knew of one other thing to do, as he backed away from the boy, his red fur started glowing a bright red as he lifted his tail. Taking a step forward, he let his tail touch the boy's forehead and he closed his eyes in deep thought, soon the little fox's fur started to turn a deep orange before getting lighter until it was a bright golden yellow. When he was done, he pulled his tail away from the boy's forehead and opened his eyes to see the boy's blue and green eyes staring back at him, the tears were still flowing but he wasn't crying anymore. The fox gave him a fox grin before curling up into the boy's lap, whatever he just did made him tired, he didn't know what it was but it took a lot of his energy so he needed sleep now.
Naruto looked at the now golden-yellow fox lying asleep in his lap, all his sad feelings were nearly gone, it shocked him. He heard a deep sigh come from his right, he turned to see Karuma looking down at the little fox laying in Naruto's lap, "looks like I just found someone to take care of him now," he said as he started to get up to leave.
He was stopped by Naruto holding his arm, "what just happened? I was sad, really sad, but now I'm not. What did he do to me? What-what was that just now?" He asked rapidly.
Karuma hummed, "bonding."
"Bonding?" Naruto repeated.
Karuma nodded, "yes, it's something that my clan does, but only when we make a contract between a summoner and ourselves." He sighed through his nose," we always advise our kits not to do it at such a young age because they will end up bonding more to the human than need be, which was what just happened."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"Well, during a normal bonding between a human summoner and our clan, it makes it so that the human is seen as more of a family or likely another brother or sister. But since he did it so young, he's become more like... your son." Karuma explained.
Naruto chewed on this information for a few moments, "so basically I just became the world's youngest father?" Karuma nodded, Naruto took in a deep breath and looked down at the little fox before gathering him up into his arms, he nodded once, "I'll do my best." He then laid back down on the bed, turning away from Karuma with the little fox in his arms, "do you mind if he stays with me while I sleep?"
Karuma shook his head, "no, I'm sure you two will both need your rest right now," he said as he gathered up the tea set then headed to the door, "I'll call you both down for food when it's done," he then closed the door behind him.
Naruto heard the door close before some more tears fell down his face, he went back to sleep shortly after.